SESSION 5

‘Lionel Gee, a Government Gold Warden 1886-1910’ presented by Judy Fander

Tickets

South Australia has a long history of gold mining. An important figure in his time, Lionel Gee served the state of South Australia for more than 50 years as surveyor, mine warden, administrator and explorer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rising from a survey cadet, under the famous Surveyor-General George Goyder, Gee became an important government administrator and an occasional explorer. After his service as a warden of goldfields during the gold rushes at Teetulpa and Tarcoola in South Australia, he was stationed at goldfields in South Australia’s Northern Territory at Arltunga in Central Australia and the Tanami in desert country.

The gold warden’s duties were wide-ranging. He faced difficulties and dangers in carrying out his duties. His personal stamina, good humour and sense of fair play show us the better side of government administrators in remote areas in the period. This presentation will include sections on Teetulpa, Tarcoola, Arltunga and the Tanami desert region where Gee was stationed. Emphasis will be on the life of miners in remote places and the essential work of Aboriginal people.

Comparative figures on the importance of various minerals to the SA economy in the first hundred years of settlement will be given.

This presentation will be based on the book by Judy Fander, Where Treasures Shine: Lionel Gee, a forgotten South Australian mining identity, Sturdee Press, 2023 (Winner of the Keain Medal for 2023)

Presentation time: Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 6:30 pm
Presentation duration: 40-45 minutes

Please note: tickets include x2 presentations by Judy Fander and Patricia Sumerling.

Image: Aboriginal worker, HYL Brown (Government Geologist), LCE Gee, at the Daly River, SLSA PRG326/4/122